Owner Comments:
While, historically, coins made at the Philadelphia Mint did not have mintmarks, a change began in 1979. When the newly issued Susan B. Anthony dollars came out that year, they all had a mintmark, including those struck at Philadelphia, which were branded with a P. In 1980, this practice extended to all coins except for the cent. Just two years after this practice began, the first inadvertent omission occurred. In 1982, an obverse die without a mintmark was put into use, creating the 1982 No Mintmark dime. Because dimes were struck for circulation at both Philadelphia and Denver, the missing mintmark could be either a P or a D. The uncertainty leads to the more general name “No Mintmark.” In the early 1980s, coinage hubs did not include mintmarks. All dies were made in Philadelphia, and mintmarks were added before the dies were put into use or shipped to a branch mint for use elsewhere. This hand process accounts for the variations in mark sizes, positioning, and, as in this case, omissions. Overwhelming evidence, however, suggests that the coins were, in fact, struck in Philadelphia, and thus this variety is also called the 1982 No P dime. Examples were first discovered in late 1982 in northern Ohio. A cache thought to number several thousand coins funneled from local banks through a coin shop in Toledo, Ohio, according to researcher and author Walter Breen. A subsequent discovery in Pennsylvania added a few thousand more coins to the total number available to collectors. Numismatists distinguish between strong and weak varieties of the 1982 No Mintmark dime. The strong is properly struck and essentially fully detailed. The weak variety shows soft detail and, diagnostically, the 2 in the date is indistinct and melds with the rim of the coin. The same dies were used to strike both varieties, and the weak is variously attributed by researchers to either misaligned dies or weak striking pressure. Even though it is less common than the strong variety, the weak trades for much less, and price guides usually report only the price for the strong. Grading services do distinguish between the varieties. The number of 1982 No Mintmark dimes produced is not known precisely. It is estimated that a single obverse dime-die produces as many as 150,000 coins. Roughly 10,000 examples are known to collectors, a sizable percentage of the original mintage for a circulation-issue variety. No other mintmark omission of any kind occurred on a circulating coin until 2007, and during the 25- year interlude, the 1982 No Mintmark dime grew in status. This coin is much sought-after and especially elusive in high grades, making it a key to the long-running Roosevelt dime series.
Garrett, Jeff; Schechter, Scott. 100 Greatest US Modern Coins (Kindle Locations 1460-1465). Ingram Distribution. Kindle Edition.